


that far off star

by AbsoluteTempest



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Dinner Date, Kai and his insecurities, M/M, White Day, two drunk crying old men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24690808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsoluteTempest/pseuds/AbsoluteTempest
Summary: Kai wonders if they'll ever be able to hold a star of their own.Aichi believes they can.
Relationships: Kai Toshiki/Sendou Aichi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	that far off star

**Author's Note:**

> pretend it is still White Day and not *checks calendar* almost three months later (blame the pandemic for that, I miss my local coffee shop)
> 
> Since ao3 posting is pretty sporadic if you want to check out my minifics/cray au or just watch me frantically post about Ibuki Kouji every Saturday, find me on twitter at @iinkjokers

"I asked you to find the nicest place, not the most expensive place!"

Kai leans his head back against the couch and sighs as Miwa airs his grievances over the phone, pointing out all the expensive food on the menu.

"All you said was that you wanted to take Tokura to a nice place. So I found a nice place. I think Tokura would appreciate a very nice place." Kai mumbles as he navigates the internet to find somewhere else for Miwa.

"I think your viewpoint has been corrupted from the fancy high dining of France."  
"It is not." Kai frowns as he takes a sip of his coffee. "I don't go out to eat that often. I'd rather cook from home." He takes off his reading glasses to wipe off the steam, taking note of the shambling zombie shuffling out of his bedroom and to the kitchen.

"Ooh?" Kai can imagine the smirk on Miwa's face. "Does that mean you're not doing anything for White Day?"

"No. Aichi said he's okay with hanging out at the apartment. He'll be tired from the plane ride anyways."

"Boooo you two are no fun. You guys act like old men already even though you're only 24."

"We're busy. I still have to plan for the tournament in 2 weeks and Aichi still has papers to write. Speaking of which, Gaillard is awake so I need to go. I'll send you some more places when I have the time." Kai looks back at Gaillard, who has been staring in the fridge for the past minute.

"Fine, fine. Tell your roomie I said hello! Talk to you later!"

Kai hangs up the phone and joins Gaillard in the kitchen, just in time for him to see his roommate almost commit a great sin.

"You do realize you're putting the milk in before the cereal right?"

Gaillard stares at Kai with exhausted eyes and turns back to his bowl, then looks at the carton of milk in his hands. "Oh."

Kai sighs as he hands Gaillard the box of cereal from on top of the fridge. "Why do you look like hell?"

"Mmm." Gailard takes a moment before he responds. "I was up late looking up some possible people that could be in the tournament...you arguing with your friend woke me up."

"Sorry about that." Kai follows Gaillard to the kitchen table and takes a seat. "Miwa wanted my advice on where to take Tokura for dinner for White Day...he said hello by the way."

Gaillard mumbles a bit as he eats his cereal. "What's White Day?"

"Oh yeah, that doesn't exist in France…" Kai pushes his glasses up. "It's like...for Valentine's Day, girls give the guys chocolate right? So for White Day, it's the opposite."

"Oh, so another day for companies to take advantage of…" Gaillard pauses his shoveling of cereal. "Wait...you're not taking Aichi out for White Day?"

"No. Aichi said he was fine with staying in for the night. I'm going to make dinner and we could watch a movie or something." Kai shrugs and takes a drink of coffee. When he looks back up, mid drink, he finds Gaillard staring at him with a blank face, wide awake. The steam fogs up his glasses again. "What?"

"Are you an idiot?"

"Haa?" Kai sets down his coffee cup with a bit of force. "I'm not an idiot, that's what Aichi wants."

"No, no, no." Gaillard gets up and flicks Kai on the forehead. "You're an idiot through and through. Aichi did so much for you on Valentine's even though you're an ocean apart! Just because Aichi says so doesn't mean that's what he wants."

Kai rubs his head and frowns at his cup. Aichi did do a lot for Valentine's Day, going as far as getting Gaillard's help, and he ended up waking up to a giant order of roses that took up the entire kitchen table. He still finds petals hiding in random places around the apartment. "I'm not sure what to even do though…"

"You're going to surprise him, go to the airport wearing a nice suit with a bouquet of flowers. Then you two are going out to dinner at a fancy place. That's all you have to do. Is that good? Good, let's start planning." Gaillard doesn't wait for Kai's response as he scurries into his bedroom for his laptop.

"Gaillard, what about the tournament?!"

"That can wait two days! It won't kill you I promise!" Gaillard yells from his bedroom.

Kai leans back in his chair and sighs, fiddling with his shirt. Was this something Aichi really wanted…?

\---

He should’ve known Gaillard would go all out with the planning, especially when it came to Aichi.

The two of them spent most of the day finding a good restaurant that they could agree on, which proved to be difficult considering Kai’s pickiness with food. Even though they had to leave the house, it took less time for Gaillard to find Kai a suit and a flower shop to order a bouquet of flowers for him to give to Aichi.

By the time the next day rolled around, everything was prepared, and Kai found himself standing in the common room staring at the ceiling while Gaillard was fixing his suit.

“I can get dressed myself you know,” Kai mumbles. “And you don’t have to fix every crease.”

“Yes but I will anyway,” Gaillard says, as he grabs the belt off the couch and starts to loop it around his waist.

It’s embarrassing, being treated like a child, but Gaillard is dead set on making sure he looks perfect for Aichi, so instead Kai keeps his flustered face up to the ceiling, concentrating on the bad plaster job and a suspicious wet spot that they should really ask the landlord about.

A tug on his tie brings his eyes back down to Gaillard.

“I hope your French is in top shape.” Gaillard says, eyeing on the final touches of his suit. “Wouldn’t want a repeat of that last interview.”

“Please don’t mention that ever again,” Kai mumbles. The very mention of that interview makes him anxious so he puts on his reading glasses and scrolls through the restaurant’s menu on his phone.

_Aichi recognizes some food words, enough to have some choices...he would probably like this...this one too...I should bring this one up…_

Kai looks up for a split second, as he can’t feel the tugs on his suit anymore, and he finds Gaillard trying to stifle a laugh as he stares at him.

“Why are you laughing at me now?”

“I’m sorry! Really!” Gaillard coughs into his hand. “You just...with the suit and your glasses, you look like someone’s old man.”

Kai can feel his eye twitch. “Gaillard…”

Of course, Gaillard doesn’t back down and continues with a smirk on his face. “By the time you finally move out of here, you might even grow a gray hair or two!”

Kai wants nothing more than to smack Gaillard on the side of the head or challenge him to a game of Vanguard, but he stops once he grabs him by the collar. The smirk on his face pisses him off, but they have to pick up Aichi soon, and right now, the White Day plans are more important. He takes off his glasses, shoving them into his shirt pocket, and stares at the ceiling again.

Gaillard chuckles, but says nothing more on the matter. He gives Kai a quick once over before smiling. “Everything looks good. Don’t get any wine on it.” He places the bouquet of flowers in Kai’s hand. “I’m sure Aichi will love it.”

“Gaillard?”  
“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

Kai tilts his head. “Why are you doing this?”

Gaillard smiles softly. “You’re really asking me this? You two work hard towards your future, but give little time for yourselves. You both should reward yourselves more often like this.” Gaillard starts to walk towards their front door, but stops next to Kai, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Besides, it has to be you that treats Aichi well.”

“It has to be me?” Kai repeats, but Gaillard is already out the door, spinning his keys on his finger.

\---

Kai couldn’t contain his nervousness the entire taxi ride to the airport, his leg bouncing so much that Gaillard had to put his hand on his knee.

“You’re shaking the whole damn car.”

“S-Sorry.” Kai shakes Gaillard’s hand off and decides to stare intensely out the window instead. There’s no reason for him to be nervous, absolutely not. He and Aichi have been dating for almost three years, and have been in love for a lot longer. They’ve kissed, held hands, even had sex.

But, he realizes, if they weren’t busy securing the future for the world, they were securing the future for themselves. So, they never had the time to go on a...fancy date.

Kai fidgets with wrapping around the bouquet. While Gaillard assured him that Aichi will enjoy White Day, he’s still nervous about that too. Aichi sounded pretty tired this morning on the phone, yawning, sometimes even mumbling things in English before remembering Kai does not have a good grasp on the language. Would he be okay getting dragged around Paris? Wouldn’t he just want to get some rest? Or--

Gaillard smacks him on the leg again. Without realizing it, Kai had started shaking the car again.

“It’ll be fine.” Gaillard whispers to him. “The worst thing that can happen is that Aichi wants to go home, so stop worrying.”

When they arrive at the airport, Gaillard doesn’t follow Kai in.

“I’m not your chaperone.” Gaillard rolls his eyes. “I’m just here to pick up Aichi’s suitcase. This is Kai Toshiki’s day and his day only!”

Kai sighs. He wonders if Gaillard really just came for the suitcase or to have fun watching him squirm.

Walking away from Gaillard and his smirk, Kai enters the airport and starts to walk around looking for Aichi, ignoring stares from the other people around him.

Kai does eventually see Aichi, hidden away in a corner of the airport. At first, he smiles softly at the sight of his partner dozing off, leaning against his suitcase with a coffee cup in his hand.

_But he looks exhausted…_

Well, he's already here.

And it was Gaillard's idea, not his.

So…

"Aichi?"

Aichi's eyes shoot open and a wide grin appears on his face instantly. "Ka...i?" He stops at the sight of Kai, dressed in a fancy suit holding a bouquet of flowers, and his face starts to turn pink. "Kai…"

"Um…" Kai rubs the back of his neck for a moment before he holds out the bouquet to Aichi. "Happy White Day, Aichi.”

With his face still tinted pink, Aichi’s grin becomes even wider as he takes the flowers into his hands. “Thank you Kai.” He takes a sniff of the flowers. “They smell really good.”

“I got them before I came here. Since your hands are full, I’ll take your suitcase.” Kai says with a smile. He nods at the coffee cup that now sits next to Aichi. “Did the flight tire you out?”

Aichi laughs a bit nervously. “I didn’t sleep much last night. I still had a paper due this morning at 8 so I stayed up late to finish that.” He takes one last drink before throwing it in the trash. “You have something else planned, don’t you?”

“Well, if you were tired, I didn’t want to drag you around the city, so…”

“I am a little tired, but…” Aichi flashes him a smile. “I’d be more than happy to go anywhere with you Kai!”

Kai smiles softly back and, with his free hand, takes Aichi’s into his own and leads him out of the airport.

“Hey, Aichi.”

“Gaillard!” Aichi and Gaillard, who was still waiting for them outside of the airport, share a hug. “I’m surprised to see you!”

“Is it that surprising? I didn’t want Kai to get lost!” Gaillard says with a smirk. He laughs when Kai gives him a glare. “I’m only here for your suitcase Aichi. I didn’t think you would want to drag this around the whole night.”

“Thank you Gaillard, how very thoughtful of you!”

“Yeah, how thoughtful,” Kai mutters as he hands Gaillard the suitcase. “I’m sure you have wonderful reasons for doing so.”

“Do you think I enjoy watching you squirm?” Gaillard chuckles. “I really just came here for the suitcase. And to say hello to Aichi before you whisk him off into the night.”

“Let’s go get a taxi Aichi.” Kai says, ignoring Gaillard’s drivel and pulling Aichi away, who laughs while scratching his chin.

“It’ll be nice to exist in my apartment tonight without having to deal with a freeloader!”

“I’m not a freeloader! I pay half of the rent and groceries!” Kai yells back, as he hails a tax. He opens the door for Aichi and goes to give Gaillard one last glare but stops when he sees his face.

There it is again. It’s not the professional face that Gaillard wears around all the time, or the cocky one he wears whenever he pushes his buttons, but it is one full of softness, one that reaches both his smile and his eyes. It’s the same one that he gives to the orphanage kids whenever they visit.

Kai smiles back and waves before he gets into the taxi.

\---

“Um…”

Having just arrived at the restaurant, Kai looks at Aichi, who is frantically looking around. “What’s up?”

“Aren’t I too underdressed for this place?” Aichi looks down at his familiar pink sweater, white jacket combo with jeans on. “I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb…”

“It’ll be okay.” Kai squeezes Aichi’s hands along with the reassurance. “I had that in mind when I picked a place. It’s nice, but it’ll not like one of those places that bar you from entering if you’re not dressed up.”

“Ah, that’s good,” Aichi says as Kai leads him inside. He stands back and allows Kai to take care of the speaking, listening to Kai’s awful French accent with a smile on his face.

(No one gave him funny looks, so for now, Kai is in the clear with his French.)

However, as they get seated, sitting across from each other, Kai realizes that he forgot something.

“Kai, will you help me read the wine list?”

He did forget to look over that, didn’t he?

Kai slides in next to Aichi and he takes out his glasses from his shirt pockets, puts them on, and leans in close. Thighs touching, he analyzes the wine list for the both of them, not noticing how bright red Aichi’s face is getting.

“Some of these you should know already. This one is Gaillard’s favorite, so if you want to play it safe, pick this one. But I also would recommend this, and...Aichi?”

Aichi is staring at Kai, his face bright red, and it’s only making Kai begin to burn too. “A-Aichi?”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stare!” Aichi shoves his face into the wine list, despite the fact he can’t actually read it. His eyes dart back and forth between the list and Kai. “Y-you...with your glasses, you look really handsome...and older…”

_You look like someone’s old man._

The words that Gaillard had told him hum in his ears. When it came out of his mouth, he had felt annoyed, especially combined with insinuating that he’s a freeloader. But when he thinks about it now, staring at a tomato faced Aichi, his chest feels like it's going to burst.

_But can you even reach that far off star? Will you be able to hold it without it falling through your hands?_

That hesitation is what makes him falter.

It must be written on his face, because Aichi, despite still being pink, looks at him and tilts his head. “Kai?”

Before Kai could sort out his feelings, articulate the thoughts in his head, the conversation grinds to a halt when the waitress asks for their drinks.

By the time they order everything, the conversation has moved elsewhere, and as the dinner date continues on, and the wine glasses are refilled, they talk about everything and anything, from Aichi’s schoolwork, dealing with his college roommates, Kai living with Gaillard (Aichi guesses quickly that this date was his suggestion, much to Kai’s embarrassment), the tournament in two weeks.

But Kai’s mind drifts back to the comment about his glasses, drifts off into the future, where he and Aichi no longer have to live oceans apart.

\---

The night is dark and the city life is bright and bustling by the time Kai and Aichi leave the restaurant, everything paid for and perhaps a little too much wine in their system. Kai talked about getting a taxi home, since they’re both walking a little unsteady, but Aichi pulled him away. The weather isn’t too bad tonight, and the walk back to the apartment isn’t too far, he argued, so Kai finds himself walking down the streets, his jacket and vest slung over his shoulders, a hand on Aichi’s shoulders, and Aichi’s on Kai’s back.

Aichi pouts for some of the way home, since Kai wouldn’t let him see how much the dinner was (Kai had told him he was going to win it all back in the next tournament anyways, but Aichi didn’t listen). He can tell he’s a little drunk, as he laughs loudly and talks fast, so when Aichi isn’t pouting, he listens to Aichi talk about astronomy, muttering affirmatives every once in a while.

They take a breather in an empty park that’s on the way home.

“That’s a thing I hate about cities so much!” Aichi pouts at the sky, arms crossed. “You can’t see anything in the night sky! Just an occasional airplane! Why are people in the city okay with such a boring night sky?”

Kai laughs. “Won’t our jobs keep us stuck in the city?”

“Then…” Aichi stands in front of Kai and claps his hands. With his beautiful sparkling eyes, Kai doesn’t need a starry sky. “In the future, with your tournament money, let’s get a vacation house, or, or something! In the middle of nowhere! So it’s just us, and the sky! O-Oh, and Vanguard of course!”

Aichi’s smile is infectious, so Kai can’t help but brush his lips against the corner of Aichi’s mouth. “That sounds like the ideal.”

_In the future…_

He finds himself staring at the void of the night sky, his mind drifting away. They are getting older now, aren’t they? He thinks of their friends back home, he thinks of times where Aichi can’t video chat with him because he’s helping Shindou with college, he thinks of times of Gaillard pushing his buttons that they’re still sharing an apartment.

_You look like someone’s old man._

“Kai.”

He finds his face nestled in that fuzzy pink sweater, fingers gently combing his hair, a strong hand against his neck. “A-Aichi.”

Aichi must’ve felt Kai tense up slightly, as he steps back a bit and flexes his scrawny arm. “Don’t worry Kai, if someone pesters us for public affection, I’ll use the self defense skills Ibuki and Naoki taught me!”

The corner’s of Kai mouth twitch slightly, at the idea of the tiny, scrawny, and slightly drunk Aichi having to use anything that Ibuki or Ishida have taught him, but since the park is quiet and empty, he relents and wraps his arms around Aichi’s waist, burrows into his sweater, and let’s Aichi play with his hair.

“Kai, what is bothering you?”

His hands squeeze Aichi’s jacket. He’s afraid to look up, up into Aichi’s strong eyes that hold the entire galaxy, lest his drunken emotions will get the better of him.

“Dinner was wonderful, but the whole time your eyes were pretty distant, just like it was now. It wasn’t because I called you old, was it? Time is moving pretty fast since--”

“Aichi.” Kai risks looking up. He wants to ask before it all falls apart. “The future. In the future. Will we...actually be able to start a family? Will I be a good dad?”

Aichi doesn’t respond, just looks at him wide eyed, mouth slightly ajar.

“S-sorry.” Kai looks at the ground. “M-Maybe it’s a little too early for us to discuss that--”

“It’s not.” Aichi pulls Kai back into his shirt, but he’s not sure if it’s to comfort him or hide his own emotions. “It’s been almost three years, but technically, we’ve known for a lot longer, right?”

That is true. They’ve known their feelings even before Aichi knew where he wanted to go in life, but they were hesitant in being in a relationship when their paths were drifting to opposite sides of the world. But one day, after the Under20 tournament, discussing the whereabouts of Chaos Breaker, Aichi had blurted out that the future was uncertain. That he wanted to take the next step with Kai before the possible end of the world.

“Kai...what, what brought this on…?”

“Well…” He frowns. “Gaillard told me with my suit and glasses, I looked like someone’s old man.” Hearing Aichi chuckle makes his face turn pink. “His words just pissed me off, but, when you told me it made me look older, and talking about the future...I…”

“I...I s-see.”

Tears start to well up in his eyes, but the fingers in Kai’s hair comforts him enough to continue. “I...when, when we talk about the future, after you get your doctoral degree, I think a lot about it. I think about getting married or...or having a family but...I...I don’t think I would be good. I’ve been alone for most of my life, and, I don’t have a family...and...what if I mess up...and hurt them like I hurt you? I…” The tears start flowing, half of them falling to the ground and the other staining Aichi’s sweater. “Sorry, I don’t know what I’m saying--”

“Kai.” Aichi holds Kai’s wet face and tilts it up, just in time for his own tears to fall on Kai’s forehead. Looking into Aichi’s glowing eyes just makes his own tears fall faster. “I think you would be wonderful.”

It’s Kai’s turn to stare at him wide eyed. “Really?”

Aichi nods. “You’ve already proven it before, right? With Kiba Shion--.”  
“I-I didn’t really do much--”  
“--And with Team Neo Nippon. You watched over them and taught them and took care of them when you were looking for Chaos Breaker. A little birdie told me recently, in fact, that you were nice enough to train Noa Hoshizaki for a solo tournament last winter.”

Kai’s face heats up. It was supposed to be a secret but it must’ve gotten to Shindou, who told Aichi. “I-I...I know his deck well…”

Aichi laughs. “And then there’s the kids at the orphanage. Gaillard loves to tell me when you guys go and visit for a day or two. He tells me that you can be a little awkward and quiet around them, but they all really love you.”

Kai opens and closes his mouth several times, sniffles. “I…”

Aichi rubs his eyes with the sleeves of his jacket. While the tears have stopped streaming, his eyes are still watery and soft as he rubs Kai’s face. “I think you will be wonderful because you wouldn’t want them to live the same life that you have had. You wouldn’t want them to be so lonely or to grow up without parents.” He leans down and gives Kai a soft kiss on the forehead. “And you do have a family now. In me, my mom, and Emi.”

“Aichi…” Kai stands up quickly and pulls Aichi into a tight hug, clinging to him as if he would vanish into smoke should he let go. “Aichi…”

Aichi rubs his face into Kai’s shirt, plays a little with his tie. “It’ll be a few years before we’ll have the conversation, but I just wanted to let you know Kai. I really love you.”

Kai buries his face into Aichi’s soft hair. “I love you too, so much.”

They stand like that for a while, warm in each other’s arms, in the quiet empty park, until Aichi’s hair tickles Kai’s nose too much and does one of his signature cat-like sneezes, sending Aichi into a laughing fit.

Once Aichi stops laughing, grinning wide at Kai’s pout, he tugs at Kai’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go home, I’m sure Gaillard will be worried about us.”

When they get through the door at last, they find that it wasn’t much of a problem. Gaillard had fallen asleep on the couch, the TV still on, wearing a bathrobe and face mask on.

They debate on just leaving him there, but after everything that he did, Kai felt bad about the possibility of messing up his face, so they shake him until he opens his eyes.

“Gaillard?” Kai whispers into his ear before he shuffles off to his room.  
“Mm?”  
“Thank you.”

Gaillard smiles softly. “I’m glad it was a success. Pay me back by winning it all in two weeks.”

Aichi falls asleep before his head even hits the pillow, so Kai is left to his own thoughts as he looks at his peaceful face, holding and rubbing his hands.

He used to be afraid of the future, afraid of speaking about it. He didn’t have any dreams, he didn’t even think he would live past high school.

But now the future is bright and full of love, and, especially now, he’s no longer afraid. The image he holds now of what the future might bring, it’s crystal clear as he falls asleep, holding his eternal friend, eternal rival, eternal soulmate, in his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> If you were wondering about how Miwa and Misaki's date went, Miwa's card got declined and Misaki had to pay hahaha


End file.
